torihada

hey woollyman; I viewed and I rated you. Music let you down No seriously, nice to see a SJ'ers helmet cam footage. What's your setup? DVR or Camcorder?

SC: According to the link I posted above its 12,000 Yen for a days bc tour. There's a link on that page to accomodation packages. Yep! Kagura will definitely stretch my skills, I'm really looking forward to it (sorry too old to use the word stoked)

continuing my search for laid back freeride videos; mellow bc powder

NPM: jack of all trades. I work in a commercial art gallery. Doesn't sound like it'd be hard work but its stressful and the work is physical at times (installing large sculpture shows, humping crates up 4 flights of stairs). I also have to travel quite a bit and it always seems when I have time off my body knows it can let its defences down, and hey presto...I come down with the lurgy. But I apologise to those with shorter holidays, no gloating here. I just remember after my last nihon snow trip; Monday am back in London, grey wet morning waiting for a late train, remembering the previous

ahhhh Cheeseman's back with some sound advice. Which cheese is best with insipid Japanese lager?

SC: I'm staying for two nights at the Minakami Alpine Lodge 10th & 11th Jan for tours on 11th & 12th. I got (in my opinion) a good deal on accomodation and bc tour (at Kagura). According to their website you can do the bc without booking accomodation; canyons bc webpage I found out about the Alpine Lodge through SJ (opened last week). I was due to stay in resort at Oze Iwakura but thought this was too good an opportunity to pass up on. Beats riding on your lonesome. I've just got to concentrate on practicing my powder skills for the preceeding 2 weeks.

I've got 2 days BC tour booked with canyons in Jan. My first bc experience. Db: Quote: It is however a two way street....they (client) switch of the hunger to learn. I hope I can learn something, especially if it turns out its just me plus guide. I don't want to follow in someone’s footsteps (literally) and then just follow him down the mountain. I'm most interested in learning how to assess the dangers, how to pick a line, learning the practicals/principals of safety procedures. But I'm not kidding myself; I'm just a tourist having an excursion away from the piste. If I li

Get a sack full of 500 yen coins a small stool and take up residence near a beer vending machine. Let me know when you're going to be at Narita and I'll steer clear.

Found this old thread (lets play resurrection) while digging around and my query sort of relates to what's been mentioned as there seems to be a few north easterners hanging around here; hypothesis; say you happened to be in NYC in late March/v.early April is it feasible to do a short (3 day) trip to a resort in NY state? Will there be any snow? This is me in my most duplicitous/devious mode; "excuse me dear, but why on earth are you packing your snowboard for our trip to NYC?"

Dec 23rd - Jan 14th (I tacked a weeks annual holiday onto Christmas hols ) That'll give me 16 days on the slopes And then nothing (snow related) for a year and maybe 7 days in the Alps next year, if I'm lucky I'm pretty lucky; 6 weeks annual leave, but trouble is work is so knackering that come holidays my mind/body knows it can relax and I end up getting sick, so I'm about to start poping Echinacea pills for a couple of weeks.

previous SJ forum thread relevant to your question

All you guys out there don't need to sweat. It'll come, but maybe a shorter season than last year. Its us tourist that are sweating; a constrained window of opportunity (3 weeks for me) and no second chances. At least there's more snow now than the same period two years ago on my last visit when I was really freaked. This time around I'm coming out a week later. As CB said if there's no improvement by Dec 31st.....PANIC. Anyway gotta finish my Shinto Yuki shrine and chuck some cash in. Here's hoping.

Norwegian tree jumping. That's my level of bc tree dodging. Rory Bushfield makes it look easy. But I like the kayaking in powder. Gives new meaning to an eskimo roll. I fancy that, at least it get me up above the deep. Wonder how a kayak would fare in a slide? Would you be able to 'float' to the top?

If your back pain reappears every winter it might be rheumatic. You might want to see a Doctor. I have constant lower back pain. From heavy lifting at work and I think a futon that is due for replacement. Over the years I have torn back muscles and put myself in a lot of pain from lifting. I have pain at the moment and the remedy for me at the moment is lots of exercise, I make sure I commute by bike most days. Stretching in a morning, standing on balls of feet (is this the Alexander technique) pushing shoulder blades together, improving stance by standing upright. My mother swears by Pilates.

I often watch vids of extreme boarding & skiing and I think wow that looks like fun. Id like to give it a go (in my wildest dreams). But watching the Duvest Dayz helmet cam footage I was thinking - noooo way would I get into that sort of situation. It would scare the bejesus outa me (and Id die). The guy back flipping off cornices etc is a nutter. Seems a bit pointless, half the fun is riding away from a jump. I like this video from Youtube.Its not an extreme ski board vid. Its footage from Akita, its mellow with a cool soundtrack and is well edited, it shows that anyone on the piste

Great news, on snow and kids front. I hope my kids take to skiing as well as your two seem to have done. Have fun.

ohh shoite! I just bought a helmet with a built in computerised camcorder and emergency parachute off ebay.

Soubriquet; how's the snow up where you are? Saw your last photos and it looks promising. I am religiously watching the Appi webcam

Yes go north, but not as far as Hokkaido. I learnt to board in north west Tohoku and the great thing is the slopes are quiet. You wont get the height and vertical drop that you get in the Japanese Alps but you will get what every beginner wants; space. I've never been to Appi Kogen but access is relatively easy from Tokyo; Appi Kogen access I am going to stay at Appi for four days in early January. Ther's also other resorts close by, along with Tazawako in Akita Pref. (about 45 mins by car from Appi) which reputedly has one of the most beautiful views in Japan (you look down on

SC; nope, just a clumsy git. Maybe I just have an oversized head My first concussion was aged 6 or 7. I was hospitalised for that one as well now I remember (can't have been that bad, I remember it) Last was when I was 19 or 20. I haven't done it for about 20 years now. I must have learnt something. I had a tumble off my bike a couple of months ago; straight over the handlebars and the first point of contact with the road was my helmet. I saw stars. If I hadn't had the helmet I would have had concussion at best.New helmet next day. Anyway I'm in the middle of preparing g

Quote: An experienced snowboarder, Shawna Davis, reports that she was grateful to be wearing a helmet on the day she was injured. Shawna reports that she remembers riding the lift up with her husband, Jack, in the morning, but can’t recall anything more until she found Jack at the top of the mountain several hours later. He said he had been looking for her all day, but she couldn’t tell him where she was or what had happened. She did have a slight bruise under her goggles to indicate she had an accident. When Shawna asked repeatedly about their daughter’s whereabouts, Jack knew something was s

Did that come free with the Gauloises or vice versa? Ahhh yes Japanese Christmas; noodles and smoking your lungs out, it's what I look forward to most

yo! I'm up for some Quote: hot grass skiing Sounds like fun. Aaaaaa the smell of dendrix and broken digits...lets ski UK. Anyway back to topic; Neal are you going to Japan to ski/board or will you be there on other business? Its a hell of an expense if you're flying out just for the snow for a week. For me its the side dishes that make it worthwhile (onsen, food, being in Japan, etc) and that I'm combining it with family visits. Mmmmm strange that our bianual family visits occur in the winter now Are you going to be in Tokyo? Get a map of Japan. learn the names & loc

I learnt to board in Japan and one of the first things I bought was a helmet. My brother-in-law (nihonjin) said he didn't want to board with me if I was wearing a helmet There was an element of truth behind the joking. I was very glad to have the helmet I am sure it saved me from concussion on a number of times. I stay up-right a lot more now but as TB said, once you've worn one there's no going back. I cycle a lot and used to cycle tour around Europe in my younger days. I was militant anti-helmet. I used to pour scorn on cyclists I'd see wearing helmets. I used to think it was nuts c

cash, cash, cash and some cash just in case. I think you're pretty safe carrying cash, just use common sense. I saw an old kimono clad lady in a Tokyo cafe take out her purse to pay the bill. It was like an old school cloth pencil case, stuffed to the gills with Yen. It was a brick of cash, well over an inch thick, it stood up by itself on the table. I also prefer cash as it's cheaper; I have been exchanging £'s for Yen for the past three months at a commission free currency exchange. If I use a cash point in Japan (if I can find one that works with my debit card) I'll get clobbered